ITALIAN SAUSAGE PASTA

Mr. Thrifty has a favorite dish when we go out to eat at an Italian restaurant.

The dish must contain these two ingredients:  Italian sausage and red, yellow or orange peppers.

I found this recipe on the internet and tweaked it for my liking.


For the ingredients:

I began cooking up the Italian sausage.

 Once the sausage was cooked and drained, I moved onto the peppers.

Add the remaining ingredients and spices.

I liked having the extra sauce to soak in the pasta.

A good amount of fresh Parmesan can be added when serving.  This is delicious!



PICKLE JAR UPDATE 2020

My two sisters bought this pickle jar for my birthday a few years back. For Christmas, I added the acorns that I had collected with the girls back in Peoria.  I spray painted them silver to use in my holiday decorating.

Since I had my seashell tray on the library table, I remembered that I had a bag of tiny shells in my stash.  I polished the pickle jar and added those shells.

Instead of buying costly potpourri, I used what I had laying around.  I think the shells look great!

It's always fun to create displays and not spend a cent.

LOCKDOWN CHILI SEASONING IN A HURRY

Good morning!  Here it is Easter Monday and there is a chill in the air outside.  I started a batch of chili and realized that I didn't have any Chili Seasoning Packets.  Panic?  No.

I googled a recipe and thought I would share it with you. During these times of the Coronavirus, a person does not want to go to the store.  I opened up my spice cabinet and pulled out the spices and .

You will need:

1 T. chili powder

                                                                  1 t. cumin(I did not add this because my family does not like cumin)

   1/4 t. cayenne pepper

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. onion powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. white pepper

When I brown the ground beef for my chili, I always add at least one half of a cut up onion.  I cook these together  and drain the grease off before putting this in the crock pot.

I used to make chili using just tomato sauce but now while making 2 batches, I add 16 ounces of tomato sauce and 16 ounces of canned stewed tomatoes. I also add 2 cans of light kidney beans, drained and rinsed to the pot.

 

Toss the spices into the crock pot.  I always add 1 soda can size of V8 juice.





 Stir and cover.

Let it simmer all day.  I make sure to have a pot of hot white rice, and grated cheddar cheese when I am ready to serve.




REVIEW:
THE CHILI DID HAVE SOME HEAT, BUT WAS NOT OVERLY HOT.  THE FAMILY LIKED IT BUT I WOULD LEAVE OUT THE CAYENNE PEPPER.  I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT 1/4 T. IN A DOUBLE BATCH OF CHILI WOULD CREATE SUCH HEAT.


I WOULD DEFINITELY USE THIS RECIPE FOR SPICES FOR CHILI AGAIN.



EASTER BUNNY AND MEMORIES OF THE GREAT LAKES CIRCA 2001

I put together a sweet Easter vignette the other day which flooded back memories of the girls growing up at Easter.  The picture was taken in 2001 and I just had to sit in out.  They were so young and sweet and the vignette just makes me happy.

I guess we were all young back then!  They look so cute in their bonnets.



HAPPY EASTER 2019

SPRING MANTLE 2020

It is time to freshen up the mantle for spring.  Freshness means white and lots of it.

Incorporated in the mantle are the two artichokes, a vintage glass gardening dome, a gingerbread wood decoration and finally, the new glass totem.
 



GARDEN GLASS TOTEM

I have always been curious about gardeners who place totems in their gardens.  I suppose it was a project that was on my to-do list.

 I took a trip down to my favorite antique mall, and spied this candle stick which was 13 inches tall. It was $12.00.  Maybe I could begin collecting glass pieces for my own totem.



The next item I found was this beautiful turquoise crystal vase.  I was ready to make the leap.  I scoured the store for additional glass items, but wasn't willing to pay the costs.  I had to search elsewhere.  So, I purchased these two items.



That Friday, a friend asked me if I would like to attend 3 estate sales.  I thought about the totem and quickly said yes!  I mentioned to her that I was looking for glass items to add to my project and she was very good at helping me search.


This compilation of the below items pictured cost me $6.12.  This is an advantage when you go to an estate sale on the last day.  The sellers want to clean the house up so they won't have to pack it up themselves. I will use some of these items in my next project and keep the remainder for future totems.

This plate was half off, so it was only $2.00

I had a lot of clear glassware, but I needed one more turquoise piece.  I looked online and found this Pioneer Woman goblet.  I ordered one, which was $3.99 from Walmart.  Two days later, they informed me that they did not have it in stock.  On a fluke, I went to my Walmart and found it.

I researched how to assemble the totem and bought E6000 adhesive.  Then I played with the pieces, using blue tacky to make my tower.

I was happy with the tower, so I waited for Mr. Thrifty to come home from work and give me advice on how to go about the process of gluing.

The Mr. suggested that we glue two items in groups and then let them sit overnight before we attached them together.

The photo shows the 3 pairings of glued objects on the first night.

The next night, we glued two pairings together.

And on the third night, we added the last pairing.

I am very pleased with the result, but I will leave it inside the house until spring rolls around.

REFRESHENED ARTICHOKE

First of all, with the coronavirus update, my youngest, is home from school and it's her birthday.  It is hard to entertain here since we haven't gone anywhere.  We will be celebrating by picking up her favorite Chinese food later this afternoon.
Back to the posting.


During my February thrift shopping, I picked up this artichoke decoration for $1.00.

Updating this piece of décor took about a total of 15 minutes. I love those easy ones!

The first step was applying a coat of acrylic crackle medium. 

I used my hairdryer to speed up the drying process.

The next step was to paint the chalk paint over the dried artichoke.  I gave it two coats so the crackled surfaces would show more dimension.

Once I complete one more garden element, I will show you the Spring Mantle.